12/11 UPDATE: The City Transportation manager, has responded to our concerns, but their response shows exactly why we cannot stop here.

I shared these incidents with the City and requested simple, temporary safety measures such as flashing red beacons and school-hour traffic support. These are quick, inexpensive interventions that save lives.

The City responded that based on their “metrics,” neither intersection meets the warrant for flashing lights or additional traffic control. They pointed to reported crashes dating back to 2015 and to a long-term McGillivray corridor project planned for 2026. They offered to review signage and consider lighting changes but did not commit to any immediate safety measures.

Here’s why that response is not acceptable:

• Reported crash data does not reflect the reality of what is happening right now. Near misses are not counted, and the sudden spike of serious crashes in the last week clearly shows a dangerous pattern that historical data does not capture.
• Two Wy’East students were hit four days apart at the same intersection. This is a school route used daily by hundreds of students. Safety in a school zone should not depend solely on crash warrants.
• The City’s own documents show that the 136th & McGillivray intersection met national MUTCD volume warrants in 2022 for stronger traffic control. A future engineering study was noted, but no interim safety measures were ever implemented. Now more students have been hurt.
• The community is not asking for major construction right now. We are asking for small, temporary, life-saving measures that can be installed quickly while long-term solutions are evaluated.

If we accept the City’s response as final, nothing will change  and more students will be at risk. Community voices are essential to pushing for interim safety measures, especially when the current controls are clearly failing.

Please continue sharing this petition, reporting concerns, and speaking up. Our kids and our neighbors deserve intersections where drivers actually stop. We cannot afford to drop this now.

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Within the month, three serious crashes have occurred at the SE 136th Avenue intersections at NE 7th Street and SE McGillivray Boulevard in Vancouver, Washington. These are not isolated incidents, they are a clear pattern of drivers failing to stop at two extremely dangerous four-way intersections.

• At 136th & 7th, a father and his three children were struck by a driver who ran the stop sign.
• At 136th & McGillivray, a Wy’East Middle School student biking through the crosswalk was hit and suffered a broken leg.
• And today, at approximately 5:30 PM, another bicyclist was hit at the same McGillivray intersection.

All three crashes involved people who were using the crosswalks correctly.
This is not pedestrian error.
This is not “kids needing to be more careful.”
This is a traffic control failure at intersections that the community uses every day.

The City of Vancouver’s own Safety & Mobility Project shows that SE 136th & McGillivray met national MUTCD traffic signal warrants back in Fall 2022. The City identified a need for a future engineering assessment, but no interim safety measures were ever put in place  despite increasing traffic and heavy use by students walking and biking to school.

Now multiple children and neighbors have been injured.
We cannot wait for a fatality.

We, the undersigned, are asking the City of Vancouver to take two immediate, temporary, life-saving actions while long-term solutions are evaluated:

Install flashing red beacons at both four-way stop intersections:
• SE 136th Ave & NE 7th St
• SE 136th Ave & SE McGillivray Blvd

Provide temporary school-hour and peak-hour safety support, such as:
• targeted traffic enforcement
• a speed display trailer
• portable rumble strips
• crossing assistance during arrival and dismissal times
These are simple, quick, and affordable measures that the City can take right now to prevent further injuries.

Students, families, and neighbors use these crosswalks every day.
We deserve safe streets.
We deserve intersections where drivers stop.
We deserve action now! not after another person is hurt.

Please sign and share this petition to urge the City of Vancouver to take immediate steps to make SE 136th Avenue safe.